Danielle Wright spends a family weekend with nature.

Celia Wade-Brown has shaken off her nearest challenger John Morrison to win a second term as mayor of Wellington.

Heather Tyler finds a small town making the most of some fabulous vineyards.

A toxic paint that sickened a woman and forced her family out of their home has been pulled from sale as officials investigate what is in the paint that made her ill.

A major thunder and lightning show is playing out over Wellington, reportedly causing flash flooding through the city.

Residents were fleeing Seddon last night after a 5.5 earthquake rattled the quake-weary town.

Call it luck or a spooky coincidence, but staff and students at a Wellington primary school were ready and waiting for yesterday's big earthquake.

The severe earthquake which rocked NZ this afternoon sent workers in Wellington running into the streets as the ground shook and buildings swayed from side to side.

Click here for the latest updates on the earthquakes shaking the Wellington region this afternoon.

A power company employee refused to enter a property to read the meter because he feared being attacked by the homeowner's "ferocious gander".

A series of aftershocks have rumbled across central New Zealand this morning, sparked by a strong magnitude 4.9 jolt near Seddon, Marlborough shortly before 1am.

A shallow 4.2 magnitude earthquake has been detected near East Cape, after a strong aftershock near Wellington this morning.

Residents have cleared out of a central Wellington street while urgent work is carried out on a quake-damaged carpark lift which could come crashing down in an aftershock.

More than 1000 claims have been lodged with the Earthquake Commission following the swarm of quakes centred off the Seddon coast.

New Zealand was one of the first Commonwealth countries to mark the birth of the Royal baby today with a 21-gun salute.

Wellington's mayor is hopeful it will be business as normal tomorrow despite 35 buildings in the CBD found to have been externally damaged by yesterday's severe earthquake.

Scientists are deploying extra seismic instruments in Marlborough to enable more accurate measurement of the aftershocks off the coast of Seddon.

Livestream of the media conference following the Wellington earthquake.